We are the Salt Lake City chapter of an international mentorship group with a focus on helping more women become active participants and leaders in the Python open-source community. Our mission is to promote, educate and advance a diverse Python community through outreach, education, conferences, events and social gatherings. PyLadies also aims to provide a friendly support network for women and a bridge to the larger Python world. Anyone with an interest in Python is encouraged to participate!

Several of us are using Udacity CS 101 as our introduction to programming, and there are lots more good introductory materials we can point you to. What matters most is to have a community of people who will support you as you learn new concepts. If you have an interest, you can do it. It just takes time and practice.

P r a c t i c e. I t ' s w h a t w e d o.

"There's some very good statistics . . . that show that when women don't succeed at first, they blame themselves, and men [who don't succeed at first] blame the course or the test." --Eric Roberts, professor of Computer Science at Stanford

"They need to know that just because they didn't construct a floppy disk at age five doesn't mean they shouldn't be there." --Erin Wakefield, Intel

"Generally, guys in engineering are motivated by coolness. Women are motivated by their impact to help." Wakefield hit a point in her career when she felt apathetic about her work; she was building a graphic chip and hated that she was working her butt off to allow some kid to play Halo with better explosions. As the chip developed, though, the Mayo clinic got involved, adding a medical imaging component to the project. She had found a source of motivation.http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/2...